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This is a poem written by Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986), the Argentine poet and writer. It talks about joy (especially the joy of newfound love) as a wonder that renews the world for one who experiences it. Borges also played with the doctrine of idealism, quite explicitly in some lines of this poem, especially the final one. And he draws material from the Scriptures, being a fan of biblical hermeneutics from Christian theology to the Kabbalah.
The English translation is by me, so stylistic failures are more than likely. The Yivokuchi translation follows the original, which is mostly simple in grammatical terms. I've been forced to leave most names untranslated (though not untransliterated), which keeps the translation from having the strength of the original. The archetypal "Adam and Eve" of the first line, however, are replaced by their close vernacular homologues.
I've included profuse notes, some on grammatical devices and others on etymology, at the end of the interlinear translation, which the reader can consult by looking for the matching line number.
El que abraza a una mujer es Adán. La mujer es Eva.
Todo sucede por primera vez.
He visto una cosa blanca en el cielo. Me dicen que es la luna, pero qué puedo hacer con una palabra y con una mitología.
Los árboles me dan un poco de miedo. Son tan hermosos.
Los tranquilos animales se acercan para que yo les diga su nombre.
Los libros de la biblioteca no tienen letras. Cuando los abro surgen.
Al hojear el atlas proyecto la forma de Sumatra.
El que prende un fósforo en el oscuro está inventado el fuego.
En el espejo hay otro que acecha.
El que mira el mar ve a Inglaterra.
El que profiere un verso de Liliencron ha entrado en la batalla.
He soñado a Cartago y a las legiones que desolaron a Cartago.
He soñado la espada y la balanza.
Loado sea el amor en el que no hay poseedor ni poseída, pero los dos se entregan.
Loada sea la pesadilla, que nos revela que podemos crear el infierno.
El que desciende a un río desciende al Ganges.
El que mira un reloj de arena ve la disolución de un imperio.
El que juega con un puñal presagia la muerte de César.
El que duerme es todos los hombres.
En el desierto vi la joven Esfinge, que acaban de labrar. Nada hay antiguo bajo el sol.
Todo sucede por primera vez, pero de un modo eterno.
El que lee mis palabras está inventándolas.
-- Jorge Luis Borges
He who embraces a woman is Adam. The woman is Eve.
Everything happens for the first time.
I have seen a white thing in the sky. They tell me it's the moon, but what can I do with a word and a mythology.
The trees frighten me a bit. They are so beautiful.
The calm animals come near for me to tell them their names.
The books in the library have no letters. When I open them, they come up.
When I peruse the atlas I project the shape of Sumatra.
He who lights a match in the dark is inventing fire.
In the mirror there's someone else lurking.
He who looks at the sea sees England.
He who utters a verse by Liliencron has entered the battle.
I have dreamed Carthage and the legions that devastated Carthage.
I have dreamed the sword and the scales.
Praised be the love in which there is no possessor or possessed, but the two surrender themselves.
Praised be the nightmare, which reveals to us that we can create hell.
He who comes down to a river comes down to the Ganges.
He who watches a sand clock sees the dissolution of an empire.
He who plays with a knife foretells the death of Caesar.
He who sleeps is all men.
In the desert I saw the young Sphinx, that they just finished carving. There's nothing old under the sun.
Everything happens for the first time, but in an eternal fashion.
He who reads my words is inventing them.
Je gurdiwe aka mech Elede. Eki Ayude.
Dro rorestibade.
E sose emo fi yivore ao muo. Sach mate firidele, ime o taze ca lipu foya, lipu gadra.
Ku kuch ye furkakomo kieva. Mibade meo ru.
Isil vemi se eoseo guk guro e mates eli gon.
Mim uniefemimi gha unalde. Mi garimen wao bejhe.
Ye dumarchenen yitirirmimis e dokhoke sukh Sumatra.
Je nesetuve usala breile mech ardavie neset.
Unwembrieg rebri ucelkade.
Je cire etleni mech fita itEngelan de.
Je geomate yunnuna yiLilienkron sose mor tayeo mo.
Sose endirfimo yiKhartag, yichabritia o vigvebu Kartag.
Sose endirfimo yikhopkhaini yifupeiri.
Cheulia dide ait o raren la o raria la unde sekeseke lisaesach kadabaofalle.
Cheulia dide furkiryuech o jhaokhai fitsoskomo ul davir budrosodi des.
Je sojhue gena mech sojhue goGanges.
Je cire torirpumidiya mech fide yijheprejamo unninaitlota.
Je llepllepe kopchena mech kuomate unwem dakh Kaisar.
Je mendide mech kaka deri.
Miwalnokhi e fide eivim Ebirni, o brisise sorpuz. Lao urama mou vech unde.
Dro rorestiba, sekeseke masadervade.
Je tride foy ye mech ardavien.
1. Je gurdiw -e ak -a mech Ele-de. Ek -i Ayu-de.
who embrace-PRS woman-NDF P2 Ele-COP woman-DEF Ayu-COP
"Who embraces a woman, that is Adam. The woman is Eve."
2. Dro rorestib -a -de.
everything first_timer-NDF-COP
"Everything is a first timer."
3. E so -s -e e -mo fi yivore ao m- uo.
1s come-PRF-PRS 1s-INC seeing GEN-thing white ESS-sky
"I have become seer of a white thing in the sky."
4. Sach mat-e fir -i -de -le,
P3 say-PRS moon-DEF-COP-REP
"They say it's the moon,"
5. ime o taz-e ca li -pu -0 foy -a, li -pu -0 gadr-a.
but what do -PRS may COM-instr-CON word-NDF COM-instr-CON myth-NDF
"but what possible (thing) do I do with a word, with a myth"
6. Ku =ku -ch ye furk -a -komo kieva.
tree=tree-DEF GEN+1s afraid-NDF-CAU little
"The trees make a frightened one of me a little."
7. Mib -a -de meo ru.
beautiful-NDF-COP TH2 how
"They are so beautiful."
8. Isil vemi s -e eoseo g -uk
animal calm-DEF come-PRS one_by_one ALL-near
"The calm animals come near one by one"
9. g- uro e mat-e -s el-i go -n.
ALL-purpose 1s say-PRS-CNJ name-DEF ALL-OBJ
"to the purpose that I say the names to them."
10a. Mim u- niefe=mim -i gha u- n= al- de.
book ESS-store.book-DEF letter ESS-OBJ-NEG-COP
"The books in the library, there are no letters in them."
10b. Mi garim -e -n wao adatabor-e.
when spread-PRS-OBJ TH1 surge -PRS
"When I open them they surge."
11a. Ye dumarchen-en yi- sirirmim-i -s
GEN+1s peruse -ACP GEN-atlas -DEF-CNJ
"My perusing of the atlas, and"
11b. e dokhok -e sukh -0 Sumatra.
1s manifest-PRS shape-CON Sumatra
"I project the shape of Sumatra."
12. Je nesetuv-e usal -a b- reile mech ar- davi -e neset.
who inflame-PRS match-NDF ESS-dark P2 CNT-create-PRS fire
"Who lights a match, that one is inventing fire."
13. Un- wembrieg-i rebri ucelk -a -de.
ESS-mirror -DEF another_person lurking-NDF-COP
"In the mirror someone else is lurking."
14. Je cir -e etlen-i mech fit -a it -Engelan de.
who look-PRS sea -DEF P2 seer-NDF GEN-England COP
"Who looks at the sea, that one is a seer of England."
15a. Je geomat-e yunnun-a yi- Lilienkron
who recite-PRS verse -NDF GEN-Liliencron
"Who recites a verse of Liliencron"
15b. so -s -e m- or -0 tayeo mo.
come-PRF-PRS ESS-inside-CON battle INC
"has come into battle."
16a. So -s -e endirfi-mo yi- Khartag,
come-PRF-PRS dreamer-INC GEN-Carthage
"I have become dreamer of Carthage,"
16b. yi- chabritia o vigveb -u Kartag.
GEN-army which PST+destroy-PST Carthage
"of the armies that destroyed Carthage."
17. So -s -e endirfi-mo yi- khopkhain-i yi- fupeir-i.
come-PRF-PRS dreamer-INC GEN-sword -DEF GEN-scales-DEF
"I have become dreamer of the sword, of the scales."
18a. Cheul -ia di- de ait o
praise-PAP IMP-COP love which
"Praised be (that) love which"
18b. rar -en la o rar -ia la u- n -de
take-ACP none which take-PAP none ESS-OBJ-COP
"has no taker (and) no taken,"
18c. sekeseke lisaesa -ch kada- baofall-e.
instead two_people-DEF each_other-give -PRS
"but instead the two give themselves away."
19a. Cheul -ia di- de furkiryue-ch o jhaokhai fitsos -komo
praise-PAP IMP-COP nightmare-DEF which GEN+1sI full_seers-CAU
"Praised be the nightmare, which makes us full seers (that)"
19b. ul -0 davi -r -0 budrosod-i de -s.
able-CON create-ABP-CON hell -DEF COP-CNJ
"we are able to create hell."
20. Je sojhu -e g- en -a mech sojhu -e go- Ganges.
who come_down-PRS ALL-river-NDF P2 come_down-PRS ALL-Ganges
"Who comes down to a river, that one comes down to (the) Ganges."
21a. Je cir -e torirpumidi-ya mech fi -de
who look-PRS sand_clock -NDF P2 seer-COP
"Who looks at a sand clock, that one is (a) seer"
21b. yi- jheprejamo u- nninaitlot-a.
GEN-exhaustion ESS-empire -NDF
"of exhaustion in an empire."
22. Je llepllep -e kopchen-a mech kuomat -e u- nwem dakh Kaisar.
who play_with-PRS knife -NDF P2 foretell-PRS ESS-topic death Caesar
"Who plays with a knife, that one foretells the death of Caesar."
23. Je m- end -i -de mech ka=ka der-i.
who ESS-rest-DEF-COP P2 man.DUP all-DEF
"Who is in rest, that one is all men."
24a. M- iwalnokh-i e fi -de e- i- vim Ebirni,
ESS-desert -DEF 1s seer-COP MPH-GEN-young Sphinx
"In the desert I am seer of the young Sphinx,"
24b. o bris -is -e sorp -u -z.
which finish-PRF-PRS carve-PST-OBJ+CNJ
"which they have finished (after) they carved (it)."
25c. Lao urama m- ou ve -ch u- n -de.
nothing new-NDF ESS-beneath sun-DEF ESS-OBJ-COP
"Nothing new under the sun there is."
26. Dro rorestib -a, sekeseke masaderva-de.
everything first_timer-NDF instead eternally-COP
"Everything is a first timer, but eternally."
27. Je trid-e foy ye mech ar- davi -e -n.
who read-PRS word GEN+1s P2 CNT-create-PRS-OBJ
"Who reads my words, that one is creating them."
1. Ele and Ayu are the names of "Adam and Eve" (the archetypical first couple) in the Bokuchi culture. It's quite conceivable that these derive from the same names, in English or some other Western language.
2. rorestib decomposes as *ror (reduced form of raur, 'time, occasion, instance') + as 'one' (with i-Umlaut) + -tib (a suffix used to form ordinals). The sentence, as you see, has no verb 'to happen'.
3. Note the serial construction used to make the perfective of the copula, with sos- 'have come' and the inceptive copula. The pronominal subject appears in both places as a coordinator, but it can be omitted (e sose fimo yivore...).
4. Note the reported speech mark (REP) -le. Though the discursive verb makes it clear that the proposition is reported speech, -le emphasizes the uncertainty and disconcert that the poet tries to convey.
5. ca is a 'modal adjective', not a verb or auxilliary as English 'may'; it means 'possible; a thing such as X is able to do', so o taze ca translates as 'what do I do (that is) possible' = 'what can I do'. -- pu 'instr(ument)' is a helper noun.
6. Note the causative-inceptive construction with genitive object + adjective + causative copula. The genitive object here could be mistaken for a modifier of the subject, but intonation and the presence of the causative immediately afterwards should make it clear; in any case, the subject is already delimited by the definite article.
9. uro (here in the allative case) is a helper noun which means 'purpose' or 'goal'. When used with a following predicate, the verb appears marked with the conjunctive (CNJ) suffix -s.
10a. unalde 'there are no X in (Y)' appears several times in this poem, also glossed as '(Y) has no X'.
11a/11b. Note the coordination of these two subclauses using the conjunctive affix. Yivokuchi finds this more natural than using two finite verb forms ('As I peruse the atlas'). The core arguments of the finite verb (in this case dumarchen) are made genitive as the verb becomes an active participle.
11b. dokhok- 'manifest, project' is the k-stem (transitivized form) of the rather technical verb dokh- 'appear, show self as'.
15b. The perfect form sose 'has come' is used only to mark the perfective of the inceptive copula, in spite of the gloss; the predicate could be translated 'has become *in-battled'.
16. vigvebu is the past tense of bigveb- 'destroy completely' (with the well-known common root veb- 'destroy, ruin' and the intensifying/maximizing prefix bik-.
17. kopkhain 'sword' has the common root kob- 'blade, sharp edge', which is almost never used alone but only in compounds, in this case with khain, which is quite transparently from khin 'attack'. -- yifupeir is GEN + pupeir, where pu 'instrument' (cf. line 5) and peir 'weight'.
18c. baofall- implies 'give away completely, surrender, set aside all doubt and conflict, submit' (bao- is an intensifying affix).
19a/19b. The causative and its long predicate are coordinated using the conjunctive. Note that ul ('able', a modal adjective) constructs with the following non-finite verb form.
19b. budrosod- 'hell' has *but 'despair' + los 'great, grave' (a Gayat borrowing, cognate with Yivokuchi drus 'great, large') + the place-name suffix -od. It therefore reads as 'place of great despair'.
21b. jeprejamo (here in the genitive case) is a noun of action corresponding to preja 'finish, run out, exhausted'. -- jinaitlot (essive case here) is a compound of jinai (in the modern language 'island', though in this compound it refers to 'delimited territory' in general) and tlot 'king'. Hereditary monarchy is a foreign concept for the Bokuchi; the word for 'king' is a loan, which is made more noticeable by the fact that it preserves the cluster /tl/ (changed to /tr/ in all native Yivokuchi words).
22. kopchen 'knife' has chen 'hand'; cf. line 17. -- kuomat- 'predict, pre-say, foretell' usually takes an object constructed with unwem 'on the topic of' (gem 'topic, subject' is a helper noun).
23. mendi 'in the rest(ing)' is a paraphrasis of 'sleeping, asleep'.
24a. iwalnokh 'desert' has iw 'place, area, extension' (used for large territories) + al- (negative) + nokh 'life', thus giving 'extension-(of)-no-life'. There are other, specialized words for Sahara-like sand deserts, rocky deserts, hot dry wastelands and cold ice-covered wastelands. -- Note the emphatic (MPH) mark e- that fronts the adjective 'young'. Some people prefer to mark case on the emphatic form (it-e-wim), while others use this other order (emphasis on the case-marked form, e-i-vim). -- Ebirni 'the Sphinx' is the name of the ancient monument, still found in legends, even though it had become dust by the year 3500, approximately. The etymology of this word is unknown.
24b. Note the use of the conjunctive to make a serial verb construction. Note also the tenses and moods, present-perfect in brisise 'they have finished' and past-imperfect in sorpuz 'they carved it'. This is the most common way to express this situation.